Monday, September 9, 2013

Lap Appy

Well, a lot has happened since I last blogged. We were coasting into the end of the week anxiously awaiting the arrival of our missing family member and I guess it just wouldn't have been interesting enough without throwing an emergency surgery into the mix.

Thursday, I just before I left work, I had a sharp pain in my right side. At first I thought it just felt like a strained muscle or something. I went to pick the kids up and brought them home. By that time I could barely walk without some pretty big pain! So, I called my mom, a nurse practitioner. She went home and got my Pops (stepdad) and then came to check my pain out. After I about kicked her in the head because it hurt so bad when she pushed on it, she sent me to the minor emergency office at my doctor's office. Pops drove me there and stayed with me. The doctor there didn't bother with bloodwork or a CT because she said I had a very valid case for appendicitis. She recommended that I go to a hospital ER and get bloodwork and a CT. These are things that she could have done but she didn't want to charge me for a visit at her office and end up getting charged at a hospital too. So off to the hospital we went.

Most insurances have a specific hospital you are allowed to go to. Ours allows us to choose. Back when Emmitt was sick almost two years ago, we went to the closest ER and they sent us to the big hospital they were associated with. We had decent care, but it was a little way from home and we stayed for 4.5 days. So, I decided that I would try the new hospital that is just 15 minutes from our house. It turned out to be a great decision on many levels! We had been here for both Emmitt and Jesstine a couple of times and had great care. This time it was me and I thought the care was wonderful!

So we got to the ER and got checked in. They took me back to a room and got a urine sample. I got gowned up and they put in an IV to do bloodwork and push fluids. Pops was with me this entire time. Blood and urine came back negative for anything. The ER doc came in and asked who had sent me. I told him I wasn't sure what the doctor's name was, but she was young and blond. He said I was the second patient who said the EXACT same thing! Hehe! Anyhow, he poked and prodded. He thought that it was more likely the gallbladder. So he sent me off to get a sonogram of my liver, pancreas, right kidney and gallbladder. By this time it was nearly midnight. My mom was home with the kids awaiting any info we had to offer. Results came back negative. Doc finally decided to take the advice of the MEO doc and sent me for a CT. Within thirty minutes, the results were in...I had appendicitis! So at just after midnight, my mother-in-love came to the house and sat with the kids while they slept and my mom came to the hospital. Of course Stephen was stuck in sunny Cali TRYING to get some sleep! When I told him I was having surgery, he decided to hop on an earlier flight home, skipping his presentation which was one of the main reasons he was in Cali to begin with!

I was a nervous wreck right before surgery. I think it was a combination of things, but mainly because I was "going under the knife" without my husband and best friend there with me! I had my mom and dad though. If I had to have anyone else there with me, that would be who I would choose! Surgery was at 3AM and ironically, there was someone else in for the same thing. Had there not been, I would have had to wait until later in the day and then possibly risk going home later than expected. As it was, the surgery was at around 3 and I was home by 6:30 AM!!!!

We have had a LOT of help from my parents and mother-in-love. We have had an overabundance of food brought to us. And Stephen was able to make it home at around 3:30 PM the day I had surgery! I am healing. It was a laparoscopic surgery, so there are just three incisions. I tire very easily though. I am not allowed to lift more than 20 lbs. Emmitt weighs about 30, so that has been something I have had to adapt to. I think he was mad at me yesterday and the day before because I couldn't cuddle him how he wanted me to! :-(  Today it is just he and I while Jesstine is at school. Normally I would have to walk her all the way around to her classroom, but her teacher graciously agreed to come and get her at the door I normally pick her up at! And of course this had to be the week she was in charge of taking snacks every day! Hubby did the grocery shopping and we have plenty of snacks for the week! She will have plenty of homework after school today too since we chose to keep her home from school on Friday.

I was able to get out and about a little this weekend. We took Jesstine to her first dance class of the month. I tired very easily. Then I attempted church on Sunday morning. I made it through the sermon and then had my mom bring me home. Stephen stayed with the kids through class. Today will be interesting. Had to drop Jesstine off at school and have Emmitt all to myself!! It is a Sprout (preschool channel) kind of day! Here are some pictures:

Right before they wheeled me in for surgery. I was teary (missing my hubby) and terrified. But they let me wear the COOLEST hat!

Got some beautiful flowers from work. The top is from my team (music, pe, library, and art teachers). The bottom is from the entire staff.

These were cards that my students! The bottom one was touching because I felt like they actually got something out of the lesson I left with the sub! It was on the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd."

The kids got to play in the tunnel of the rock climbing wall at the Y after Jesstine's dance class!

In Him,
The Hutchins Family

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